Sword Art Online: White Rose
by Gelmra-Obsidian
Summary: A player with the username of Garost forgets his past and the first 55ish days of launch, now with all limits to his sanity raised - he is on a crazy streak with a girl who he finds to be a reliable nuisance and now proceeds to gain fame, glory, and more guild members to clear the game and send everyone home... the world's 300,000th socially awkward Hero. AU
1. Chapter 1

**Sword Art Online: White-Rose**

**_Volume One_**

* * *

**_Chapter One: White Devil, Swordsman_**

**Floor One, Day Sixty-One**

** 'Garost'**

**Level 18**

**156,812XP**

_Sword Art Online: White Rose_

_I know not of what happened during my time in this world that these people call Aincrad, my only memories are from day fifty-five/four to day sixty-one and for every time I sleep, I have the same recurring dream of a head rolling across the floor, turning to face me as its eyes stare into mine – the head's facial features are blurred and then it explodes into a mass of light... after waking up on the first day that I can actually remember, I ran into a girl that looked familiar, but I could not place why… she introduced herself to me as HakuMa and we partied up after that, and went grinding… why does that sound weird? No matter._

…My eyelids slowly cracked open only to find a pair of vibrant violet eyes belonging to the fair skinned face looking directly into mine as I lay there on the grass beneath a tree – she was too close.

"Finally awake?" She asked like there was nothing wrong with the invasion of my personal space, her name: HakuMa, apparently short for Haku, a Hawaiian crown of flowers and Ma for masochist… or so I reasoned.

"Another bad dream…" I mumbled, and pressed the palm of my hand against the skin of a face – then pushed hers away from mine and back a full arm length as I slowly sat up, there was no need to inform her of the details of my dream.

She seemed to grow upset, uncertain as to why.

"…Good morning." She mumbled sarcastically, sticking her tongue out at me as I pulled my hand back, and then she sat on her knees.

"Morning," I stated bluntly, and then locked her tongue between my index finger and thumb with an audible snap and blur of motion. "Oh… is this for me?" I asked and she made every effort to pull her tongue out of my grasp, to no avail.

Saliva drained out of the sides of her mouth after a few moments and I grinned, probably with a certain sadistic look in my eyes, based on her cheeks that were already flushed red. "Ahm, showie mashta." Was what she managed, and with a snicker – I let go of her tongue and she wiped the drool off of her face with her forearm. "Eww…"

"Keep your tongues to yourself." I said to her, wiping the saliva on her sleeve, reciting rule twelve.

She grinned impishly, and lunged without warning – sliding the slick and wet mouth meat against my face, and an unexpected reaction followed; my entire body shuddered with disgust and heat rushed to my face.

"Break the rules when your life is at stake." She replied, and got to her feet – reciting rule thirteen.

"It wasn't at stake." I mumbled, and brushed off the whole situation like it was nothing to be concerned with.

"Awww… but the best part about you is when you take a nap… that way I get to lay in your arms and be-" She began, disregarding what I had said, and I rose a hand for her to stop near the end – probably something I didn't want to hear.

"You lay in my arms?"

"You're blushing."

I didn't believe her, but after that we (two founders of the White Rose guild), walked in silence. Of course, I made sure to stay several paces in front of her so she couldn't see the vulnerability on my face or hear how loudly my heart was pounding… but still, she just giggled in silence to herself until we came to our destination after nearly eight hours of travel, including the time that I had spent sleeping soundly.

We found ourselves just outside of Floor One's labyrinth. It appeared ancient, and well-designed, but that's how it was supposed to go – with all its pretty well photorealistic graphical glory. We entered through the large main door and walked through a corridor that was just as large.

"You know…" Haku was the first to open her mouth, staring at the sight before her with little interest in it.

"I doubt it." I answered not a moment after she opened her mouth to speak.

"You didn't even hear what I was going to saaay!" She exclaimed, wrapping her arms around my abdomen.

"Let's hear it then…" I replied, peeling her arms off of me.

"I think that… instead of merely scouting the labyrinth of the first floor, we should kill the boss." She stated, a little too bluntly for my own liking.

I felt some sort of urge to smack her for such an idiotic suggestion, but decided that's just what she'd want me to do, since she is into strange things. "That's stupid," I replied, resisting my initial impulse successfully.

"Are you scared?" She asked with a whisper in my ear.

"Yes." My eye twitched, and I lied.

"Why?"

"I lied," I answered bluntly and made my way into the labyrinth without regard for my own personal safety or anything of that nature, since I had no memories, or psychological attachment, I likely had nothing to lose – but could not say for sure that I did or not… no matter.

**_A/N: _Felt like going back to my roots with short chapters, because that's how I started out – now these chapters aren't going to be canon heavy, but I will continue working… over here, and based on the reviews and stuff I get after the first few chapters I will, or will not continue working on this.**

**In the meantime: Gelmra, out.**


	2. Chapter 2

Sword Art Online: White Rose

Volume One

Chapter Two: First Floor Boss

Illfang, Kobold Lord – that was the name of the first floor boss that we just so happened to accidently intentionally stumble upon. I drew my Scythe, a weapon deemed overcomplicated and cliché to utilize, but on the bright side it was custom crafted by one of the best smiths in the game, an outgoing individual by the username of Wrektet written in English Characters, like every most a name in this world. The Scythe's name was Rosethorne, a weapon that was thematically based on a white rose and looked absolutely glorious, as a matter of fact: it was what inspired me to create the White Rose guild and wear this spiffy all-white-ensemble that just so happened to use a bright and legendary class dye; so the bound item drop worth 162,000col with unlimited uses said in the description.

The stats of the Scythe indicated a whopping base damage of 290-490, and it's attacks per second were a meager 0.89, but that's where all the good stuff ends, it's Sword Skills in the polearm category were excessively low damage but had massive three-minute 92 hit combos difficult to master after being unlocked at Scythe Skill Level 284/1000, like the skill known simply as: [First-Harvest]. This was useful against multiple targets just as well as single targets and the damage scaled by +3 damage with each consecutive strike; with a three-second max time before reset on the combo. Of course, nobody really used the Scythe because of its complexity, and how difficult the weapon was to use. It all depended on how you swung the weapon but it's Sword Art charge time was the fastest and most low damage. As a matter of fact, the weapon had little room for error in a life and death situation, which was every encounter with a monster, the weapon had multiple attack points as well, the spear-head on the top, the bottom of the hilt, the hooked curvaceous blade, and the handle itself, as well as the back end of the blade which locks into flesh until it is twisted in a certain way, causing a slight stun effected, and a flash of obvious pain.

"GAROST!" Haku screamed at the top of her lungs, and I watched the massive weapon come crashing down, only to be stopped as I took a step to the side, charged a sword skill and directly parried the giant Kobold King's weapon with the knock back that went sliding to the ground to my right, forcing the boss to use his buckler in an attempt to shield bash, but I parried that as well with high knockback Scythe Skills and then jumped backwards.

My health dropped to 79%

Haku instantly switched with me and her purple mace violently slammed into the Kobold Lord's abdomen with enough force to send it staggering back a step, at which point I lunged with my sword skill fully charged – knocking it back again, and jumping backwards in unison with Haku, we had done very little damage and there was no opportunity to do so, as a pair of Kobold Sentinels came charging towards us with their shields and swords drawn. One managed to land a slash on me but I bashed it backwards with a slap across the face with the Scythe handle.

71%

I waited, then slammed the blade directly into the right side of the nearest Kobold Sentinel and Haku slammed her mace into the other Sentinel, hers was knocked back, but the one I hit wasn't and yet taken down to half health, it let out a screech, slammed my blade to the side with its shield. The blade was ripped out of it's flesh, dealing an additional amount of damage. Then it jumped back and retreated to safety – but I wasn't done, I twirled with the momentum it gave me and used the back spike of my Scythe's blade to hook into Haku's sentinel, then twisted the blade and my body. I systematically proceeded to charge the next sword skill and made one final slice on the last sentinel which also exploded violently.

Without giving me any time to react; the boss charged, its first health bar was a quarter empty.

The shield came first, in a right to left side-swipe. The charged sword skill of its 'short sword' came next the shield made contact, dealing less damage then the sword I parried.

My health dropped dangerously low to 46%

Of course, Haku was there in an instant, watching my every move then assuming direct control of the opportunity and situation – she slammed her mace into the Kobold lord three times with high damage sword skills and a single taunt and ultimately drew aggro onto herself as the tank.

Knowing the system and the time, she side-stepped allowing me the opportunity to get back into the fight and launch several attacks in mere moments.

Left, right, knockback, left, right, left, left, right, right, knockback, left, right, right, left, right, left, knockback, left, right, right, left, right, left… I lost track.

Each blade hit with shockwaves and resounding booms – the damage continuously increased until I got to my last swordskill and looked to the boss with a single health bar remaining – and four sentinels spawned out of nowhere landing a couple of hits; then were immediately dispatched by the [First-Harvest] damage additions.

Only three hits remaining in the 92 attack combo then it resets.

I glanced at my own healthbar, 12% remaining after taking so many hits head-on from the boss, I remained calm, unsure if I should be concerned or not.

Finally, the boss switched it's weapon to a Nodachi, unclear what significance that bore – but I raise my scythe into a combat stance and nodded at Haku.

She returned the gesture and had already been charging into the fray with her shield and mace raised, she stopped a few feet before the boss and I was right behind her in an instant.

I slammed the scythe blade against his Sword and my health dropped to 6%.

"Garost! Get back!" She screamed, her concern was obvious – but then a fist came flying in our direction – she blocked it with a direct mace slam but violently flew backwards and the hit went through her – straight for me, I rose my Scythe and finished my combo – but the last hits weren't enough. The boss's resistances must've increased with the new weapon – his fist made contact with my face and I dared not to look at my health bar, I simply went flying into the nearest wall and slumped to the ground – defeated. My calculations weren't enough obviously… "Damn…" I muttered under my breath as the Kobold Lord rose it's blade and-

"Haaaaaaaaaaa!"

-What the hell?

A boy around my age came charging from the darkness that was my peripheral, landing the last hit on the boss's remaining 2% health… I could swear I saw a flash of violet somewhere… his eyes - they were like amethysts and they were easily seen as being lit up with excitement as well as anger, with something in them that went beyond that.

"Dick…" I muttered under my breath and then glanced upwards at my health bar, and my virtual heart skipped a beat… it was empty… there was nothing there.

Then I checked the number, and let out a deep sigh of relief.

3/3910 health remained.

Haku was by my side in an instant and I could see the horror and sheer terror on her face and in her eyes, she froze – unsure of what to do and obviously afraid to touch me.

A purple message appeared by the boy and he immediately turned his attention to us after pressing a button to acknowledge his glorious reward.

"I don't know what to do, what do I do!?" Haku freaked.

I glanced at her, to see what the issue was.

Tears were streaming down from her face.

"What, am I missing an arm?" I asked, out of all the reassurances I could give her the following was the best in my opinion, "It's just a flesh wound, I'll walk it off."

I pointed at the boy with a nod of my head, and Haku took the message – getting to her feet, facing the boy and letting out an almost inaudible growl from the back of her throat – don't you dare touch him… was what I read in the body language and the growl.

Possessive.

Even with the strength I did not have, I slowly rose to my feet and waited as he came to a stop in front of me, "Nice hit." I grunted and walked past him in an ungrateful fashion, but then came to a stop as I went to pass him. "Don't expect me to say thank you for saving my life or anything…" I muttered and then continued up the steps.

"Wait… your name?"

"It's only polite that the one wanting to know something shares relative information of his own." Was my reply, and I received no answer for some time – hesitation, distrust… well placed.

"S-saito." His voice sounded strained, like it took everything he had just to give that up.

"Saito?" I asked, and slowly turned my head to face him – something familiar about the face… can't remember…

In response to this familiarity I opened my friends list, sent a request to his name and then walked up the steps – only to have the request denied – with a smirk I walked with Haku to the second floor, who remained quiet. "We'll get the portal to the second floor's main town – let everyone know the first floor boss has been defeated – by you no less… feel free to take all the credit." I offered a wave to Saito before disappearing from sight… hell, I didn't even know if he was still there.

"You think we'll find skeletons this time?" I asked Haku once we got up top.

"How can that be your only concern?!" She demanded, "You nearly died!"

"Well sorry, but let's not forget; it was your idea." I glanced at her and there may have been some blame in my words.

She grimaced and the guilt on her face was obvious.

"Don't worry about it, it's best to learn from experience anyway."

"Do you even hear how unenthusiastically you say enthusiastic things all the time?" She asked me, her voice was quiet – almost afraid. "It makes you sound like you're being sarcastic."

"Shhh…" I raised a hand for her to shut up and continued to walk.

"…how cold, master."

I shivered, then cringed, then my eye twitched and I hated every second of her behavior.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three; Origins

One Week Later

We were in the town of Bruma, just outside the entrance to the Second Floor. Our current place of residence was a Tavern by the name of 'Black Ichor Tavern'. They sold beverages that could be described as alcoholic... and black. It was stated such drinks wouldn't actually be in this game when released globally – this is a loophole sort of thing; but alcohol in japan isn't even a big deal, and yet while it isn't alcohol, it still has the same effect on the body and mind of whoever drinks it.

Of course, rather than give a damn, I had Haku make us a couple juices in a couple of our owned glasses with permission from the NPC Owner of course, so as to not have a bounty placed on our heads – which would make the guards surround us and force us to pay our col bounty or spend time in jail.

I held the glass in one hand and read the town newspaper in the other, nothing of note – just wheat fields and potential quests involving the heartless slaughter of mobs; or monsters in normal person terms.

I tossed the newspaper back on the table, dropping it and having the reading device removed from my equipped items. I then pressed my mouth against the ice cold rim of my glass, and sipped the source of the cold. The texture of a pulp-less juice was smooth and the flavor brought involuntary tears to my eyes – but I couldn't describe it because I didn't know what it was.

My thoughts and pleasures were rudely interrupted by the one and only… HaKu.

"You still didn't answer my question," She mumbled to herself at the other end of the table, drinking her juice and smiling contently with each sip – despite her obvious annoyance with my involuntary ignorance.

"Which question?" I asked, lowering the glass to speak to her without distraction.

"The one I asked you on the way here, you fool." She replied.

I took another sip of my juice – as a distraction to the tinge of annoyance I could feel nipping at the edge of my rationale. "I don't recall," I finally answered her after swallowing another mouthful of the juice.

"You know… how you even know how to do that full combo even though you can't actually remember anything before a week or so from now."

The question went right through my head, but something else came into it in place of her question.

"STRAWBERRIES AND… KIWI!" I shouted, standing up in the middle of the tavern, and laughing triumphantly as I remembered the taste I could put to the juice – finally one of my memories return.

"Ughh… were you even listening?" She asked, her face indicated childish poutiness.

"Yes… I think… something about a combo with my scythe and not remembering… I don't know – I could just smell it." I offered a reply, so as to make her feel less annoyed.

"Smell it?" She inquired with a tilted head and confused expression. "Who the hell draws a perfect combo from their sense of smell?"

"Smelling is a part of remembering." I replied, and took another sip of the juice, pacing myself to make it last longer.

"Not as big a part as you make it seem." She muttered under her breath, intentionally loud enough so I could hear; an obvious indication of skepticism.

"Haku, I'm playing this game and I have to clear all the way up to floor 100 with a flawless death record… at least try to make the stress easier to deal with for me."

That shut her up, for once – but I felt bad… and we sat in awkward silence for far too long, it's not like I said anything really mean either.

"I wonder when other players will start to show up." I mused, and timidly drank from my glass.

She sniffled, and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. "Baka." She started sobbing.

"Why are you crying?" I asked, suppressing any indication of emotion, "It's not like I'm going to say sorry or anything… but I didn't mean to antagonize you." I mumbled, I couldn't bring myself to look at her – so I settled for gazing at the wooden plank floor and stone-foundation of the seemingly moderately-low quality high end-tavern; which was illuminated by a variety of fashionable lanterns that burned indefinitely with some sort of unknown chemicals; which were always activated and burning brightly; except when it was time for lights out.

"T-that's not it..." She murmured a few moments later, her voice was shaky and I could see the glint of tears in my peripheral vision.

"…I want to go home." She said, her voice a sad whisper and those were the last words she spoke for the remainder of the hour.

The girl who I normally thought was obnoxious was sobbing quietly to herself, and I didn't know what to say. It was probably best I didn't say anything.

Even so, I had time to think during the hour long tear session – and came to the conclusion that the vast majority of players trapped in this world must feel the same as her after the sixty-eight or so days it took to beat the first floor boss. With that in mind, I slammed my fist on the table, rattling the glasses and cups and ultimately received an immortal object notification.

Haku jumped, "What the hell was that?!" She demanded, getting to her feet and glaring at me.

I grinned, "Quit crying, we'll be fine if you do as I say and we get functional members in our guild," I said those words in probably one of the most blunt and poorly explained ways possible.

She laughed, at my idiocy. "I almost forgot that your amnesia acts as a cure to homesickness," She replied, "I wish I was that lucky."

"Really?" I asked her with so much disbelief I could hear it in my voice, "It's not like I wandered the first days after waking up, completely oblivious to what was happening and living as a human without purpose – it's hard to find one of those things." I explained pessimistically to her, in short terms… I wasn't exactly lucky.

"Oh come on… your purpose is to come up with reckless plans and nearly die at my behest just to satisfy my expectations of you…" She giggled, a hint of playfulness in her tone.

"You make my idiocy sound like an honorable thing." I grumbled, feeling horribly embarrassed by my miscalculations and near death.

"I do it for both our sakes… just don't try to come up with a suicide plan again." She stated, somberly this time.

"Garost-Senpai will do all in his power to get all of you out of here." I spoke in third person, like some sort of egotistical and cliché superhero wannabe.

"Shut up, no you won't – without me you're nothing." She said, playing the part of an antagonizing and arrogant teammate, whilst wearing a playful grin.

Then I had a flash memory… a girl, white hair – maybe a couple years younger than I am.

"Hey… do you know a girl with white hair?" I asked, suddenly.

"Yeah, but we haven't seen each other since launch, and I forgot to ask for her username before we logged in." She replied, letting out a deep sigh. "I don't know where she is."

"I see… well I have a feeling that I need to find her… this person who I just remembered exists."

"Can you put a name to her face?" Haku asked, and I could tell I had her curiosity piqued.

"No… just a smell." I replied, stroking my chin like one would stroke their bead.

"I'm finding this smell thing kind of creepy… what do you smell?"

"Vanilla, strawberries… shampoo." I murmured.

"I also find it creepy you remember the smell of her shampoo." She laughed. "If we're talking about the same person, her name is Keiko." She said, suppressing a snicker, and trying to find her serious expression; it wasn't working.

"Okay, I've had enough of your laughing – go back to crying." I said and got up from the table, feeling annoyed with being laughed at when I'm dead serious… about smelling stuff.

With that, I got to my feet and made why way outside, only to find myself completely surrounded by players. "Problem?" Was my only reaction and response to the situation. I took a moment to inspect the guy in front of me. He was a low level, stressed out, and had messy brown hair, he looked like he wouldn't get along with me – so I punched him in the face.

He was sent reeling back and clutched his nose – despite not feeling a damn thing. I took this chance to grab Haku by the hand and drag her outside. "What's your real name?" I asked her, like nothing had happened – then pushed open the door to the outside world.

Oh god…

Players filled the town square and were moving about with no quarter left to chance, but I guess this is expected after a week of the first floor boss being dead – people get curious so hundreds come to see what the next floor is like.

"Uwah!" She cried as we bumped into somebody and sent them stumbling a foot into another player. "What kind of a question is that at a time like this?" She demanded.

"I want to know." I answered bluntly, without explaining myself.

"Why?!" She exclaimed as we rammed past everyone and through the crowds, all for the sake of getting to the edge of town.

"Just because… it's not like I want to know who you are when we get out of this mess… or anything like that." I stated.

"I see." She answered, and I could smell the rise in her body temperature.

I walked in feigned ignorance, "We need more col to buy a temporary guild hall so we don't have to worry about these kinds of things." I changed the subject, bashing aside another player who fell forward into a rack of weapons, knocking them all over and taking a negligible amount of fall damage.

"Hey!" I felt a heavy hand land on my shoulder. I turned my head and then hissed at the guy – who jumped back with a; 'what the hell' expression on his face.

After continuous walking and rudeness, we finally made it to the edge of town.

"We're alive!" Haku shouted ecstatically, doing a twirl then stopped to face a large group of no less than angry players who followed them out. "…Oh."

"Hey… are you that White Reaper guy?" One of them asked me.

"That white who guy? Do I look like a white reaper to you?!" I demanded, being dressed in a complete white ensemble with a Scythe equipped on my back probably didn't help my situation out at all.

"Uhh… actually yeah." The same guy answered.

"Don't be ridiculous!" I shouted, laughing exaggeratedly and somewhat nervously. "Why? What do you want with him?" I asked when I started to get weird looks from the group of once angry players who are now trying to hide their excitement.

"He punched me in th face – I want a duel!" It was that stressed-out guy from before who just ratted me out.

"Oh… did I?" I tried to play it innocent, "I'm sorry I must've accidently hit you on my way by."

"Come on, Garost – how often do people grab somebody by the collar of their chest plates then smash a fist into their faces on accident?" Asked Haku, another rat – I could smell the betrayal and expectation building up.

"Okay… so you want a duel?" I asked, and waited for the guy to look away to begin his duel request.

When his eyes were turned, I also turned – and ran off into the wilderness. Haku chased after me, and in a second I was out of the duel request range.

"Why the hell are you running away!?" She cried out to me, barely managing to keep up.

"Because I can't duel!" I answered, looking over my shoulder for a moment. A branch appeared, and I narrowly ducked beneath it.

"Why not!?" She continued hating on me.

"Scythes are mob-killers I don't know how to use them on players yet!" I replied, and what I said was true. Scythes were primarily used to kill mobs and bosses, but I had no yet tried to use them on players do to their heavy weight, lack of defense prowess and there uselessness in close combat. I turned off the path and came to a sudden stop, Haku smashed face first into my back which sent a chill up my spine – direct contact with humans tended to do that.

"You still have the short-sword skill don't you?" She asked, her voice muffled by the back of my trench coat.

"While that is true, I still didn't bother to use it and it's still just a level one skill." I explained, letting her in on 'the know' as to why I didn't bother dueling and ignoring this disgusting feeling of her words vibrating against my vertebrae.

"Meaning?" She continued with her seemingly infinite amount of questions.

"Meaning that if I were to use the short-sword, I'd only have access to the most basic abilities of the sword skill arsenal until I level up my short-sword skill in a futile attempt to win duels against players," I explained in as simple terms using as few words I could manage.

"Oh… so you're afraid of losing." She reasoned, I wanted to say it was completely irrelevant, but it was relevant.

"Nothing of the sort – I just have more important things to do right now." I said with a sigh in my words.

"Like what?" Her curiosity was like that of a newborn child – but then again it may have been her first time in full dive at launch, and the concept of a VRMMORPG wasn't so bad, even if this one was a death game that fried your brain on the outside world when you died in this one.

"Like answering your constant barrage of questions you ask with that annoyingly educated sounding voice of yours – your very character…" I turned to look at her and cupped her face in both hands, "…says you wear glasses…" I said softly, and her cheeks flushed a deep red.

She pulled her face away from my hands, "Sh-shut up, wh-what are you doing… so suddenly?" she asked, her voice a quiet and embarrassed murmur.

"Hey… you want to do it?"

**SLAP!**

"N-n-n-n-n-NOOOOOOO!"

* * *

_**A/N: Uhh... right, so uhm... **_**TUNE IN NEXT TIME FOR MORE SAO: White Rose.**

**Oh, but before I forget; I'm currently accepting OCs to utilize in this FF and I hope you appreciate the longer yet still short chapter. I'm just getting back into the writing 'groove' after a long absence so take it easy on me... if you want... You don't have to though.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Sword Art Online: White Rose**

**Chapter Four; Second in Command**

**67 days after launch.**

**HAKU**

Garost had collapsed 14 days prior to today, and he had lost all of his memories and knowledge of the outside world when he woke. The cause is unknown but he still knows how to use the Scythe. Which is a stupid weapon to use in my opinion, even after winning that fight against the first floor boss.

On another note, his logic and reasoning behind the Scythe being a mob killer is that it is a heavy weapon that deals a lot of damage with 90+ hit combos. I doubt such skills exist; I'm beginning to wonder if he imagines things so hard that he makes them a reality with chained sword skills and system exploits, or maybe that's what he was talking about. Of course, the extra 3+ damage per consecutive hit actually exists with its 4 second time to cast another skill before reset to +0 damage per sword skill.

Though I wonder; how is he a master with the Scythe?

I'll figure it out later…

I then glance over at him as he leans with his back against a tree, his white hair is blowing in the VR wind, and his white trench coat blows in perfect sync. He looked kind of cool, compared to his real world self; I say that because you'd expect a guy who actually has white hair to be an above average individual – but no, he's as average as average comes.

On another note; I feel like an idiot, but it's his fault for making his question seem like it was being used in a different context – he doesn't even remember how to talk to people anymore but at least he had already explained that he was talking about: 'doing as he says, and helping him find more guild members'.

I could even feel the heat of embarrassment rush to my face after his question, WHAT AN IDIOT!

"Is something wrong?" He asked, with that same smooth voice he spoke with whenever he was feeling kind of down.

"Yes, I don't know why you even need to bother asking, despite knowing there's something wrong, baka." I snapped at him, and he pushed himself upright. He turned to face me directly, his eyes were narrowed and he was obviously suppressing some sort of anger.

"Are you going to help or not?" He asked, his tone said he was serious this time, not about that thing I thought he was talking about – but the guild… yes the guild, even he could be taken seriously sometimes.

"What help am I, anyway?" I asked him, and he just grinned.

"You're my second in command on the guild roster, there has to be a reason for that – what level are you anyway?" He explained, and then asked me his question, what a reckless bastard, to go into battle with me in a party despite not knowing my level. His normal self wouldn't allow that in the same situation. I guess that's my fault for not bringing it up.

"16."

"Good, I forgot to ask your level when we went into the bossfight – which is why I tanked most of the hits, but my awareness kind of sucks… since I didn't get the chance to look at your healthbar in combat; too inattentive." He responded, like he was taking down notes for something.

"What are you going on about?" I asked him, and I felt a pang of regret that disappeared as quickly as it came; I didn't really want to know, even though I already did. He was probably getting his mind set and ready for the next boss fight.

"I'm tallying up the flaws, and what went wrong with the fight against Illfang, to make sure I don't do the same things next time – we would've won sooner and a ton more easily than we did." He explained with a blunt voice and then bit his nail.

That wasn't so bad… "But are you saying that you already forgot about what you put me through?"

"Hm?" He asked, "What did I put you through?"

Oh. My. God.

His head suddenly jerked in one direction as I saw the glint of a player's weapon and Garost immediately reacted with a sidestep, drew his short-sword and finally parried an attack by player. The damage meant to be done was completely negated.

In turn, I drew my mace, slammed it into the chest of a player and watched with horror as he shattered to pieces.

"Relax!" Garost shouted, "They're just bandit NPCs!" He finished, and systemically proceeded to use his lowest level weapon skill and a mediocre sword-skill to cut into the face of a bandit. He ultimately left a massive red gash across their eyes. The bandit then proceeded to explode in a ball of white light and pixel glass.

Meanwhile, I just slammed my mace into the face of a second target, then rose my shield and blocked the hit of a third and final bandit.

Garost then reacted instantaneously to a second target behind him, taking a two steps forward and narrowly dodging a blade – he kept slow-walking forward. Once he was clear enough, he then proceeded to open his UI (User Interface) and equip his Scythe before then closing it and equipping his primary weapon – the Scythe… in the middle of combat.

The boy's white hair flashed suddenly as he charged a sword-skill and slammed the butt of the hilt into the abdomen of his second target, the effect knocked his target back and he spun around – charging a skill at the same time. His blade came downward, and the hook cut the bandit across the chest in a diagonal line. His torso started sliding off; but the process was stopped by the white explosion of his body.

"Last one." Garost grunted, and began putting away his Scythe.

I felt like yelling at him, but I just decided to accept his faith in my abilities to kill three bandits alone – even though he only killed like… two.

Whatever.

I charged the shield, slammed it into the bandit; sending the bastard staggering backwards. Using the same system I had to kill various other mobs, I finished to process with a jab in the chest using a lunge with the mace, and then charged and upwards diagonal hit with the mace that sent the bastard flying into the air. He was still not dead, must've been the leader.

Then, at the worst possible moment to think the situation was over – the bastard shot up to his feet and lunged with both hands wrapped around his blade. I swung my mace, but it was too late. I should have blocked.

And yet; Garost stepped in front of the shortsword, taking the lunge to the abdomen and a mace to the back of his god damned head. Me and the bandit both scored a critical hit – an eternity seemed to pass before time moved again. Garost's health was rapidly dropping but he just stood there and sifted through his inventory while dangerously close to death – then whipped out some sort of healing potion, drank it and was at full health in an instant – but was still taking sustained damage.

I ran around him, slammed my mace into the bandit-leader's skull and he finally went up in a glassy pixel-explosion like the rest of his buddies.

Then I turned and pointed my mace at his face; he was just standing there, quietly looking at the names in his friend's list, but he stopped near the K's and proceeded to stare at this one message.

"Kiri…to." He whispered and I felt a slight smile coming on; Possible memory retention.

"Do you remember him from somewhere?" I asked, and he held up a hand, frowning and rubbing one of his temples – both of his eyes were closed.

"Kirito… Kiri… Kazu… Kazuto… Kirigaya…" He was thinking long and hard – obviously distracted from what the hell just happened. "Kazuto Kirigaya… school guide… beta… username usually always Kirito." He added and turned his head in my direction. His eyes are now open and the look in his eyes showed genuine curiosity rather than indifference and carelessness for the first time since his sudden memory loss… Kawaii.

"Do you know anything about him?" He asked me; that was probably the source of his curiosity – the desire to know more about Kirito… his friend in the real world.

I let out a deep sigh, and pushed aside how annoyed I felt with his current state's stupidity… he was like an entirely different person.

"He's a friend of yours." I answered as bluntly as he would.

Then he nodded slightly, "Do I party with him a lot?"

"Yes." She replied bluntly.

"I'd better send him a message." He stated, and then went through the process of constructing a message.

We stood there in silence for a few moments, then he hit the send button and waited for a few more moments.

"What did it say?" I asked him, sticking my nose into that business.

"Hey, how are you, I lost my memory 14 days ago – forming a guild, reply back to me with a meeting place, date and time and we'll talk." He answered shamelessly, like writing crappy letters and being proud of them was his job.

"That's it?"

"That's all that's needed." He replied bluntly, grabbing me by the cheeks and gently pulling on them. "Who is a cute little warrior with a mace, and adorable violet eyes?!" He asked, with a loving expression "You are! Yes you are!" He stated, and pressed his lips against mine, then ran off into the forest and back towards the road.

…I blushed, and absently touched where he had kissed me… he hadn't done that before – and never like that. He usually resented kissing me, and it felt like we had been drifting apart after Kayaba's announcement, and even before that… maybe this memory loss wasn't so bad... maybe spending the rest of what's left of my life by his side… isn't so bad.

Wait… where did he go? Ugh…

_**A/N: **_**Please note that after much thought and deciding, after my long break from writing. I decided to write shorter chapters and then proceed to post them without proofreading or rewriting whatsoever. Such is what I decided because of the Fanfic writing style.**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5; Kirito

**GAROST**

I blinked my eyes as soon as I set my gaze on him – he looked somewhat different from the person in my memories… maybe the new outfit and the fancy sword. I proceeded to make my way towards where he was standing; The meeting point, a strange place on the first floor. The place was inside of a town, not sure what the name was – didn't bother to read it or ask for it.

On another note, the location itself was of a respectable aesthetic scene, there was: a fountain, a garden, some trees, and it was also a little dark to provide that false and simple illusion of secrecy. Though there was honestly nothing out of the ordinary except a girl with long hair and a dark-brown hooded-cloak who just so happened to be sitting with body language that indicated a shy and closed in personality, a great contrast to the girl behind me pouting and openly throwing herself at me all the time…oh right, speaking of throwing selves at people… I kissed her back there – didn't I?

I openly shivered… with some form of disgust mixed with pleasure.

"What's wrong?" Haku asked me.

"Nothing – just got a chill." I answered, pretty much telling the truth but lying at the same time – with style that only I knew of… unless there's other people who think exactly like me.

Kirito was wearing a black coat, different than the one of midnight – but black… oh… always black. "Hey, Garost." He said while waving a black fingerlessly gloved hand in my direction.

I took a step forward, and Haku took hesitant step from behind me.

"And Haku." He said with a wave using his other hand.

"Good evening." I stated and Haku just gave a hesistant half-wave in response (Half-life 3 confirmed). There must be been some bad blood between the two of them or something.

Still, I was curious as to who the girl was and before we got down to business and discussed the important parts… I nodded my head in the girl's direction. "Who is she?" I asked bluntly… so as to not offend anybody by saying too much… unless she was a he… which I doubted.

She shifted uneasily, and I felt a sudden urge to feel that hair… THAT HAIR! I shivered again, with self-disgust this time.

WHAT COLOR… is that hair?

Chestnut? Peachy-orange? I don't know, it's too OP. Needs nerf.

I felt guilty for some reason…

…Well, it's not my fault Haku's hair is short.

"Uhmmm… not sure – we were just at the town meeting getting ready to kill the first floor boss when a system announcement was made that Garost, Saito and Hakuma killed the first floor boss." Kirito answered after a brief pause, and I just continued to stare at the girl for a few moments, then my head snapped upwards towards Kirito and I looked him directly in the eyes.

"Some Saito guy saved my life, but took the last hit on the boss in exchange." I replied.

"What did he get?" Kirito asked; genuine curiosity was the only thing that could describe his expression.

"Coat of Midnight, though I doubt the stats are even much better than what you're wearing right now."

"What? This? This is a Coat of Twilight." He replied, and I felt the urge to laugh at the word Twilight – but resisted successfully… not a snicker was heard.

"Looks like the same thing, except black with white aesthetic secondary – like the shoulders." I said in interested reply.

Of course, he still looked envious of the guy who managed to score the last hit on the boss. So I changed the course of the conversation towards something that would be news and interest to an individual like myself.

"So, what have you been doing for the last fourteenish days?" I asked him.

"Oh… grinding, questing, getting map data and selling information, as well as buying some." He explained, in a really blunt and relatively easy way to understand.

"And where does she come into play in all of this?"

"Met her seven days ago, at the boss meeting… name is…" He was about to give up a name, but the girl tugged on his sleeve. "Sorry, she said earlier that she doesn't trust the likes of you."

**Hngh!**

I felt like something just punched me in the face, and then proceeded to rip my kind heart out of my chest – then recovered immediately; throwing my head back and raking my hand through my glorious white-hair that remained at a constant and perfect length. "Well, I wouldn't trust me either… since my motto is in fact: Trust no-one. Not even yourself." I explained, being a sore loser and trying to act cool about it.

Kirito just gave a slight nod and smile in response, his way of saying that he was glad I understood and was the slight smile indicated he was also somewhat amused by my pathetic display of indignity – no matter.

"Well, introductions aside… I received some information from a source that wishes to remain anonymous that the Cardinal AI is going to be releasing a gameplay update increasing complexity exponentially. The reason is theorized to be because after the first floor was cleared – people started getting ideas and the first three floors have already been cleared in the past seven days." Kirito went on to explain – and hell… it was news to me.

"So what does it mean by complexity?" Was the only thing that came to mind.

"Markets, Professions, Crafting skills, combat immersion, more sophisticated AI, and the introduction of Archery." He explained, bluntly – like I should know all this.

"Wait! ARCHERY?!" Haku exclaimed, throwing her arms out to her sides and we both looked at the face twisted into hideous and irrational disbelief. "WHY ARCHERY?! It's called 'SWORD-ART' ONLINE for a reason!" She exclaimed.

"Come on… imagine if we're stuck here for two years locked on life-support with nothing but swords – don't you think that it'd get a little boring after awhile? We should be happy that the Cardinal AI system is at least evolving into an even better Artificial Intelligence and making the experience of a Death Game more realistic and fun – don't you get it?" I explained and looked at her adorable little face with my eyes… and fought the urge to make up some sort of annoying and guyish statement that gives a subtle hint that I like her.

Kirito spoke up this time, "Well… I see your point – but… I don't think…" He stopped mid sentence, as if contemplating something. He is a gamer, and he no doubt loved full-dive during the beta, and even on the first day. So he was probably weighing fun and his life on either hands.

So I decided to change the subject.

I stroked my face, or chin as some would call it. "So these new introductions the rise of complexity to existing skills will both work to our favor and against us."

"Exactly, it basically means that we'll honestly have to join a guild if we want to have any hope of completing this game." Haku stated.

"Probably true, but the introduction of Archery should make boss and mob-killing more… simple and open up combat opportunities that weren't there before…" I stated bluntly.

"…Well, throwing knives and daggers were always there." Kirito said, and we all let out a long 'hmmmmmmmmn' – except for the orange haired girl, who just bit into a CREAM COVERED BISCUIT AND DEVOURED IT IN MOMENTS!

"Where'd that cream biscuit idea come from?" I asked Kirito, wearing a completely indifferent expression, to hide how I currently felt – like I did for the past 14 days now.

"Ahahaha…" Kirito chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck, "It just adds a bit of flavor to the dry, fresh, or flavorless bread." He explained, "A lot of people do it now."

"So it's just something you came up with on the sp-" I began my question – but never got around to finishing because of a very rude interruption.

"HEY, GAROST – I KNOW IT'S YOU… DUEL ME!"

I turned my head towards the source of the guy – who was behind me. He must have followed us down the dark alley for unknown reasons – funny but also stupid I see it that way… since he just gave me his reason.

"Duel, you say?" I asked, blinking my eyes and making myself look as innocent as possible. "Why would you ever want to duel somebody that doesn't even know how to PvP?" I asked with a nervous smile, and forced anxiety onto myself – a rather convincing façade.

But he didn't bite.

"Don't give me that shit! I know you know what you did, give Keiko back to me! NOW!" He shouted at the top of his lungs.

Keiko… My sibling?

"You mean my sister? Are we talking about the same person?"

"Don't give me that SHIT! YOU KILLED HER!" He shouted, and something in my head just gave way.

I could feel my face twist into the rage that manifested itself over the last fourteen days – the annoyance of not being able to remember… the fact that my life was now a simple video game and I couldn't get out of it… and the accusation going so far to accuse me of taking the life of my own little sister?!

A dark and deep growl made it's way up from my chest and up through my throat – and I felt the urge to let the feral roar off my chest.

**HAKU**

My head was facing forward but my eyes were on Gabriel and I watched as he clenched and unclenched his fist and jaw. He was letting out a low and constant growl.

He strode towards the guy with squared shoulders and stopped right in front of the guy. "Tell me – did I really kill her, or are you just making shit up to try and get on my nerves?" He asked, his voice was dark and resonated powerfully even though he seemed to be speaking with a quietened voice.

I saw it… the guy swallowed. "Yes… she's dead… she has to be – she was stuck in the dungeon of the 4th floor last I heard and we saw this guy in white with a Scythe… he was attacking us and went for Keiko last I saw… I was the only one who made it out of there… so I came to avenge her."

"A rival?" I asked.

"There will be no rivalry. I'm going to the dungeon immediately. There's only been one day that has passed since we got to the fourth floor, and we've already gotten to the dungeon… the one in white may be an impersonator or a boss based on the most glorious player in the game." Said Garost as he turned away from the half-armored guy, he wore platelegs and a chest-plate but no shoulders or anything else. Not even a set of heavy armor boots… just leather. Oh, he also wore some sort of tiara – or a circlet.

"Me?" Kirito asked, pointing to himself. "But I don't even like white?" He said with a smirk.

Garost tried to force back his grin and mask it with anger, but he couldn't… I could theorize that he thought it was too out of character for Kirito… why do I know that? And wait… give her back to him? I turned towards Garost and his eyes were glowing a bright red – a sword skill… or is his rage just so powerful? He must've realized the same thing as me just then.

"What do you mean… give her back to 'you'?" Garost asked with a devastating and horrifyingly malicious grin.

"Uh… I-I'll be leaving now." He murmured and ran off.

"Well Kirito…" Garost turned back to the duo and sent him a party request. "Will you and your new… girlfriend be joining us on our journey to save Keiko-chan?" He asked.

"Well, yeah – but… nevermind." He stated – best to leave it at a yes with Garost, he has a very… volatile personality when it comes to his family.

"Let's go first thing tomorrow morning – Night-mobs are too dangerous and if they're still alive… they're probably in a good hiding place." Garost stated, ultimately making it obvious that he was already taking into consideration that the worst may already have happened.

Then like that, we learned the girl's name.

"What made you change your mind?" Garost asked, the moment he saw Asuna's name pop up on the list.

"You seem…" She paused for a moment, "...reliable." She replied, bluntly; and I gave her a nod and thumbs up behind Garost's back – he sure as hell wasn't trustworthy.


End file.
